Lennie, you made me smile and feel warm inside. i like love stories. Sorry you and Kevin have to endure the changes that come with parkinsons and with hearing issues. I can see you two in later years. Kevin gets up to get some icecream and asks you if you want some. You say huh, and he says ok. He leaves the room and comes back with a newspaper and you say wheres my icetea. He smiles and says thank you dear, that was so kind of you to say so. You, reply, thats ok, I'll get some more tomorrow. Love prevails in these situations.

Joe & I learned about the "in sickness and health" back in 1977 when I had a major stroke while giving birth. It took a good long while to work thru that one. Everyone should know ASL. I learned it years ago when working with TN DHS/DCS as we had to communicate with clients who were hearing impaired. My skills are rusty but it wouldn't be hard to pick up again if I worked at it.Marty

You know, the sign language might not be so far fetched as you think. A co worker of mine has a child with angelmans syndrom. She may never be able to speak or at best will have a tiny vocabulary. Her teachers and family teach her signs to express what she wants to communicate. I dont know how the sign language thing is working for her but if it can work for a child in her situation why can't it work for someone with other problems.

Lennie, you are a lucky woman with Kevin! Not every couple can deal with things the way that you two do! He's definitely a keeper. My hearing loss is like Marty's , in the low frequencies, which is why I have such a hard time understanding my son who has a very deep voice and speaks very quietly. I'm ok in person but on the phone it's horrible, and of course he lives 1800km away!!

You know the sign language thing is a good idea. DD did it with both her kids, though not as much with the little guy, but he can communicate with basic signed words which is super! Hungry, thirsty, more, all done! And Rob and I have learned a bit of it as well, it's kind of nice when you are in a noisy place and you want to say something, that you can just sign it, or you can sign something discretely behind someones back. I wish I knew more of it. DD has a dvd to learn it, I should just borrow it, then we can sit here in the evenings and sign with the dvd instead of watching car shows!!!! (yes, I'm dreaming!)

LauraGo Canucks!Asking a quilter to mend something is like asking Picasso to paint your garage

I have to strongly disagree on this. I have a feeling that as Kevin's Parkinson's progresses, signing will become considerably more difficult for him than talking (if it isn't already), and the whole thing would be a huge exercise in frustration. Parkinson's in sign language is like a terrible stutter in speech.

I also have hearing loss from meniere's. Dh is a great one for talking to me as he is walking away. His voice range is also in the range where I have the most difficulty hearing, as is the tv, radio etc. Background noise makes it impossible for me to understand any speech. I've gotten fairly good at lip reading over the years.I have an autistic GD that reponds better to sign language than to speech. She has no hearing difficulites and is able to communicate by speech and ASL.DH deals with parkinsons and we were both surprised when the doc diagnosed him as he does not have the typical tremors. In fact it was his speech getting softer that took us to the doc.

I was actually kidding about the ASL when I mentioned it. We'll figure something out no doubt.

Sewingrandma, I'm sorry to hear that you're dealing with this too. Tremor is how we first noticed that dh might have some problem. Just a twitch in his little finger that slowly spread. That was back in 2000 or so. It led to tremors on the right side. Then ever so slowly he developed them on his left side. He has DBS implants (deep brain stimulator) on both sides of his brain to control the tremors but that's all it seems to control. Other symptoms are slowly appearing and luckily his progression overall seems very slow. I think he'll be around for a while. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that very fine brain of his!

Now my Mom on the other hand told me on the phone one day in 2007 that she had been having trouble holding a pencil or a fork, etc. She, in no time at all, developed a horrible disease called corticobasal degeneration which is another neurological disease under that Parkinson's umbrella which is so far reaching. She died a miserable death just a year ago after only 4 years. My Dad died 10 years ago of what gave every indication of being Alzheimer's Disease. He luckily became oblivious to what would have been a miserable last few years.

So yeah, even in this marvelous time of scientific wonders and technology there is still so much over which we have no control. We'll all just keep plugging along.

Lennie

The Man who says it can't be done should not Interrupt the Woman doing it.

Wow, Lennie, that must have been a shocker. At least you know now, and you won't be in denial when it is time to do something about it.As far as ASL being easy to learn, not for me. I tried about 10 years ago, as a friend's daughter is completely deaf. I was hopeless, and just couldn't learn it. However, if you are gifted in languages, it may be easier for you. Also, I am terrible about spatial relationships, so that may be why it was so difficult for me.